


good things whisper (bad things shout)

by independentwriter137



Series: all's well that ends well (to end up with you) [1]
Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/M, POV Alternating, Pacific Rim AU, sorta mutual pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:35:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23963227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/independentwriter137/pseuds/independentwriter137
Summary: When Kougami Shinya returns to the Tokyo Shatterdome, he is prepared for bad memories, tight schedules, and the occasional familiar face. What he is not prepared for, however, is one Tsunemori Akane.ORInterconnected one-shots from the Pacific Rim AU no one asked for.
Relationships: Kougami Shinya/Tsunemori Akane
Series: all's well that ends well (to end up with you) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758379
Comments: 45
Kudos: 74





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It is my firm belief that every fandom should have at least one Pacific Rim AU, so when I noticed there was no Shinkane Pacific Rim AU, I had to rectify that grievance immediately.
> 
> Since this is my first foray into the Psycho-Pass verse, I’m still getting a feel for how to (properly) render all of these wonderfully nuanced and complex characters, so comments on character and character dynamics portrayal are very much welcome. The title of the fic is taken from a Matt Nathanson song btw.
> 
> Some notes/terminology for this AU:  
> \- The Akane in this fic is modeled more closely after her more mature season 2/PP: TM persona, as is her dynamic with Kou. There are some nods to season 1 though.  
> \- If you’re unfamiliar with Pacific Rim, then the premise is the earth is at war with the kaiju (colossal sea monsters that come from an interdimensional portal that opened at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean). Humanity’s only effective weapon against the kaiju are the Jaegers (giant mechas/robots) whose co-pilots control the mecha through a mental link. The Pan Pacific Defense Corps oversees the Jaeger program.  
> \- The Drift: The mental link that lets pilots share one mind. You can’t drift with just anyone though. You have to be both mentally and physically compatible.  
> \- Shatterdome: Headquarters for the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. There are different Shatterdomes in different cities.  
> \- Jaeger Academy: Basically pilot school for Jaegers  
> \- Ranger: another name for Jaeger pilots

The halls are the same, though the faces are different. It’s odd seeing so many strangers in a place that was once so familiar. Then again, Kougami’s hardly the same person he was when he left the Tokyo Shatterdome five years ago, so perhaps he’s a stranger too.

He never imagined coming home would be both a balm and salt on wounds that never fully healed.

He pauses when a ghost of a memory flits through his mind and rushes down the hall, laughter echoing from days back when laughter was easy.

He sighs. He never imagined coming home.

“Is something wrong, Kougami-san?” Tsunemori asks when she realizes he’s lagging behind her.

“S’nothing,” he says, adjusting the strap of his backpack. Tsunemori clearly doesn’t believe him but nods like she does and keeps walking.

Kougami follows a couple of steps behind her, watching her scroll through Mark III Jaeger schematics as she navigates the halls with ease. There’s a sharp fluidity to her movements, he notes. Not stiff, exactly, but each action is precise. Deliberate. She possesses an awareness of movement that he doesn’t usually see in Jaeger engineers or in the assistants Marshall Kasei had in the past. He cocks his head to the side when it hits him. Tsunemori Akane moves like a soldier.

“Here we are, Kougami-san,” Tsunemori says. It’s not the same dorm room he once shared with Sasayama and for that, he’s grateful, though he supposes it would’ve been nice to still live across from Gino and Pops.

 _Or maybe not. Gino hates you now, remember?_ he thinks, then brushes the thought away.

The door creaks open, revealing bare walls and basic amenities. He steps in the room first, Tsunemori falling into step behind him as he surveys the room. Some might consider the room cramped, but Kougami’s never needed a lot of space. As long as there’s a place to sleep and a place for his books, this will suit him just fine.

“Marhsall Kasei wants to test your co-pilot candidates as early as possible,” Tsunemori says. She brushes her short hair out of her face, a no-nonsense haircut with bangs that soften her features. “You’re to report to the Kwoon Combat Room at 8 AM sharp tomorrow.”

“Are you one of the candidates?” he asks as he drops his backpack on the bunk.

Tsunemori blinks, surprised. Tilting her head curiously to the side, she asks, “What makes you think that?”

 _Redirecting the question,_ he notices but decides to answer anyway. “You move like a soldier, a well-trained one at that. You’re young enough to have graduated from a place like Jaeger Academy fairly recently, but you’re familiar enough with this Shatterdome to have been here a while. I’d also bet you’re not currently piloting any Jaegers. You wouldn’t have the time to in between heading the Mark III restoration program _and_ serving as Marshall Kasei’s assistant, which, based on the way you’re wrinkling your nose, isn’t exactly your dream job.”

Tsunemori grins, amused. “You remind me of a former professor,” she says.

“You talking about Saiga-sensei?”

“I am.”

“So you did graduate from Jaeger Academy.”

“I did.”

“Then your goal _is_ to be a pilot,” he says, taking note of the glimmer of challenge in her eyes. “What’s your simulator score?”

“51 drops, 51 kills.”

“Impressive,” he whistles. “With scores like that, they should’ve put you out on the field your first day out of the academy. The Jaeger program’s running low on manpower, so it’s not like they have the time to give you the rookie treatment.”

He hums, itching for a cigarette as he thinks. “So if it’s not aptitude, then I’m assuming you’re having drift compatibility issues with the other pilots so far,” he says, feeling a touch of sympathy. He was the poster boy for drift compatibility issues after Sasayama died. It’s the reason he was discharged from the Jaeger program in the first place. He knows what it’s like to be desperate to fight but hopelessly unable to.

Tsunemori shakes her head. “On the contrary, Kougami-san, my greatest strength is my mental fortitude. I haven’t encountered a single person that I’m not drift compatible with.”

“You’re kidding,” he deadpans, but he can tell she’s not. Suspicion makes him narrow his eyes at her. “How long ago did you graduate from Jaeger Academy?” he asks.

“Almost two years ago.”

“And Marshall Kasei said she’s been trying to locate me for almost two years now.”

“That’s right.”

“So you _are_ one of the candidates tomorrow.”

“I am,” she confirms.

He’s vaguely annoyed at Kasei for putting Tsunemori’s career on hold until they could find him, for putting him in the position to disappoint another person who needs him to step up.

“I also chose the other candidates based on your file,” Tsunemori adds when he doesn’t say anything.

He snorts, turning to unpack some of his paperbacks as a distraction so he doesn’t accidentally misdirect some his ire at Tsunemori. “Oh yeah? And what’d the file tell you?”

“Well, for starters, that you were an excellent pilot, obviously. I don’t think it’d be a stretch to say you and Sasayama-san were one of the best Jaeger teams in the history of the program, though you both had a tendency for breaking standard protocol,” she says, and he pauses, half-turning to face her. He expects her to break his gaze as most do, but she stays steady. “It also said that after Sasayama-san’s death, several candidates appeared drift compatible upon first assessment, but failed disastrously once the drift was actually initialized.”

 _Sounds about right,_ he thinks. “And Kasei thinks you’ll be different,” he says.

“Kasei _hopes_ I’ll be different,” Tsunemori corrects.

“And what do you think?”

“I think that depends on you, Kougami-san.”

His eyebrows raise at that. That wasn’t the answer he was expecting. “How so?” he asks.

She purses her lips, then asks, “What drives you when you get into a Jaeger? What’s your goal?”

Now he’s _really_ itching for a smoke, and he doesn’t need a mirror to know how much his expression has darkened. “To kill as many kaiju bastards as possible,” he says.

She nods like she was expecting that answer. “You think of them like prey.”

“You could say that.”

“I think it wasn’t always that way. You get into the Jaeger with the kaiju in mind. You think like a hunter. I like to think that you used to get into a Jaeger with the people in mind, that you used to think like a protector,” she tells him, honest. Earnest.

It strikes him how much she reminds him of who he used to be, fresh-faced and full of faith. He looks away first.

“You seem to have a surprisingly high opinion of me.”

“Or maybe you have a surprisingly low opinion of yourself.”

He huffs and it’s not quite a laugh, but it’s closest he’s come to one in a long time. “You don’t hold back, do you?”

She shrugs, entirely unapologetic, and he thinks he wouldn’t mind having this tiny woman as his co-pilot at all.

Tsunemori opens her mouth to say more, but her wristcomm goes off with a notification from Kasei. “Duty calls,” she says, offering him a small smile. “I’ll see you in the Combat Room tomorrow, Kougami-san.”

He nods in acknowledgment and turns back to his books.

He hears her step outside the threshold before her footsteps stop and he realizes she’s hovering in the doorway.

“Forgot something?” he asks.

“Just—” she starts, then cuts herself off. She sighs. “Please try to remember what it was like to be a protector tomorrow. Think like a Ranger, not a hunter,” she says, her voice soft and sad. “A hunter is always alone, Kougami-san.”

He freezes as though he’s been doused with ice water, paralyzed with just a few words. His limbs are suddenly numb like they’ve been asleep all this time and he’s only now realizing it. When he finally manages to move, it feels like he’s waking up for the first time in a long time. He doesn’t quite know what to say, but he finds it doesn’t matter.

By the time he turns back to the doorway, she’s already gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 is finally up!!!! First of all, thank you for all the support <3 this is such a lovely fandom and I'm so glad to have joined it! I've now got a total of 3 PP fics and I'm super stoked to have been able to share it with all of you! An update for "all the stars above our heads" will follow soon!
> 
> As for notes on this fic, you'll notice starting from this chapter that while I do take a lot of inspiration from the film and borrow some lines, I don't really do a play-by-play recreation, so each character doesn't necessarily have a direct PR-PP counterpart and events won't unfold the exact same way either. If you haven't seen the original film, I really do recommend checking it out! It's one of my faves <3
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!!

Akane doesn’t hold any particular ill will towards her last name, but she does occasionally resent that when things are arranged alphabetically, she has a tendency to go last. Usually, she doesn’t mind waiting her turn, but she’s been itching to get in a Jaeger for the past two years— _longer_ if you count her years in the Academy, the years since Yuki…

The clatter of a bo staff hitting the ground after being knocked out of Kagari’s hands disrupts that train of thought. She wrinkles her nose when Kougami practically body slams Kagari onto the mat, the redhead’s arm twisted painfully.

Kougami’s gaze meets hers in the split second between Kagari’s takedown and Shimotsuki’s announcement that the match is over. He’s been doing that ever since the matches started and it irks her the same way his very presence has irked her the moment he stepped out of the helicopter with Kasei.

Part of her thinks it’s because he isn’t what she expected him to be. The pictures in his files are mostly from his early days—a softer face and neater hair, an impeccably pressed uniform and a stiffness to his posture. There’s something almost, well, not quite _wild,_ but untame about him now, almost paradoxical with the way he constantly seemed to be restraining, _repressing_ himself. Akane doesn’t quite know what to make of that, and she’s never been good at leaving puzzles unsolved.

There’s also another, larger part of her that thinks it’s because they’re bound together in some way, and there’s something deeply unsettling about being confronted with your destiny. That’s the part of her that thinks she knows him, that she’s always known him, and her uneasiness comes from her desire to remember what she’s forgotten, the knowledge that she could still know him if only she could remember. It’s the purest form of the Drift, a connection that people must have felt long before scientists ever made such a neural connection tangible.

Alternatively, that could just be wishful thinking on her end. After all, she’s known since she arrived at the Tokyo Shatterdome that she was being set up to be Kougami Shinya’s co-pilot. She has literally waited for this day for two years, has read his file more times than she can count—of course she feels like she knows him.

She needs to finally test that drift compatibility once and for all, and it’s killing her that she has to go _last._

“I think you broke my arm,” Kagari moans as he gets up.

Kougami shrugs. “You were pretty good. Jump the gun sometimes, but not bad,” he says, and it’s more than he’s said to all of the other candidates put together so far.

The next candidate twirls her bo staff, getting into form, while Kagari slinks over to Akane.

“Aw man, guess I’m not piloting a Jaeger just yet. I can’t believe I didn’t land a single hit. This dude’s a freaking cyborg,” he complains.

Akane watches as he blocks the candidate’s blows with ease before going on the offensive, his abs visibly taut under his sweat-soaked tank top. She can see what Kagari means about Kougami being a cyborg, almost robotic and mechanical with his movements. Which isn’t to say that his movements lack grace—they don’t—but that it’s almost like he’s on autopilot. He catches her eye again and she’s distracted by the steel glint of his irises.

“Oi, Akane-chan. Can you stop checking Kougami out for a second? I’m trying to complain here,” Kagari says.

Heat rising to her cheeks, Akane whispers, “I wasn’t checking him out! It’s just _you_ said he was a cyborg and I was thinking—”

“Sure, Akane-chan,” he winks. “I believe you.”

Akane huffs and turns her attention back to the match just in time to see Kougami take down another candidate with ruthless efficiency. She wrinkles her nose again when Kougami’s bo staff stops just inches away from the girl’s neck and his eyes flick to hers again, this time flashing with an emotion she can’t name.

“Okay, what?” Kougami says, stepping away from his opponent and addressing Akane directly. “You got a problem, Tsunemori?”

“Excuse me?” she asks.

“Every time a match ends, you make this little gesture,” he says, wrinkling his nose in what she assumes is an imitation of her. “Like you’re critical of their performance.”

Akane’s surprised, but she can feel everyone’s eyes on them and she’s never been one to back down. “On the contrary, it’s _your_ performance I’m critical of, Kougami-san,” she says, and ignores the _oohs_ from the spectators and Kagari’s nudge. “You’ve been taking down your opponents with clinical efficiency. You forget that this is a dialogue, not a fight.”

“I haven’t forgotten. But I’m not going to dial down my moves,” he says, and there’s that spark of _something_ in his gaze again that turns his eyes less gray and more blue. “You chose the candidates. Maybe they’ve got potential for a neural connection but it’s also about physical compatibility.”

Before she can answer, he turns to Kasei and says, “Can we get to the point already and give Tsunemori a shot?”

If Kasei’s insulted by his impertinence, she doesn’t show it. Shimotsuki looks like she might argue about sticking to the cadet list, but Kasei speaks first. “Very well,” she says. “Tsunemori, proceed.”

A sharp thrill of excitement and nervousness runs through her as she picks up the bo staff. In her peripheral, she sees Kagari give her two thumbs up, but her focus has lasered in on Kougami’s form. There’s no arrogance in the way he regards her, no hint that he sees her tiny build and thinks of her as weak like so many do. Many have underestimated her over the years, but he isn’t one of them. She likes that.

“Four strikes mark a win,” Shimotsuki calls out.

He moves first, faster than anyone she’s ever sparred with before. There’s no time to block, and she stays unflinching as the bo staff stops inches from her face.

“1-0,” he says.

With a flick of her wrist, she knocks his bo staff aside and counters with a strike of her own that reverses their previous position, the bo staff grazing his hair. “1-1,” she says.

They back away, each waiting to strike. Kougami goes on the offensive without warning, quicker and with a sense of urgency that wasn’t in his previous matches. Their bo staffs clash, then clash again, and she feels the force of his strike reverberate down her arms, but she holds her own.

The way they move is almost like a dance, not that Akane’s had much use for dancing in recent years. Sometimes he leads, pressing his advantage as Akane reads his body language for his next step, next swipe, next strike. When she overextends herself and loses her balance, he taps her lightly on the arm with the bo staff.

“2-1,” he tells her, and when they start again, this time she takes the lead.

When she advances, he takes a step back. She twirls for momentum and he answers her strike with a block of his own. He reads her and she reads him, and it’s banter without words. She sees an opening and her arm makes a sharp arc as she brings her staff down in an overhand cut, knowing exactly when to stop so she doesn’t actually hit him.

“2-2,” she says.

When he steps back, there’s no hint of robotic detachment left in his movements, and a streak of pride runs through her. There’s a fluidity to the way he moves, something she’s noticed since his matches began, and she gets lost in the flow, enjoying the push and pull. He anticipates her movements until he can’t.

Adrenaline makes her bold and she locks his grip with hers when he strikes instead of deflecting like she usually would. She shifts her weight and knocks him off-balance. He turns his fall into a graceful tumble, but she’s already whipping her bo staff forward to strike just as he springs to his feet, the staff stopping just shy of his face.

They’re both breathing hard, and where most men would be insulted about being bested by a woman half his size, Kougami just stares at her with eyes so alive and so blue that she wonders how she ever thought there was nothing but steel in his gaze. There’s also a hint of a smile that cuts across his face like a crack in his mask. Akane can’t bring herself to look away.

“2-3,” she whispers. She resumes her stance to snap herself out of it and he does the same.

He swings and she intercepts, and then she counters and he blocks. Every action has an equal opposite reaction, she knows, and in all of the potential drift partners she’s sparred with before, the connection has never felt as strong as it does now.

 _I know you, I know you,_ she hears in every thud of the bo staff, and she wonders if he can hear it too.

She swings the bo staff, taking an opening even if it leaves her left side open in return. She doesn’t realize he’s made the exact same move until they both stop, mirror images of each other both about to strike and be struck.

A draw.

“That’s enough,” Kasei says, and Akane suddenly becomes aware of everyone else in the room. “I’ve seen what I need to see.”

Akane twirls her bo staff, nerves back full force. _Come on, come on, come on,_ she thinks.

“It looks like we have finally found you a new co-pilot, Kougami-san. Both of you are to report back to the Shatterdome in two hours. Dismissed,” Kasei says, turning to leave and Shimotsuki follows obediently.

Akane can’t help it. She beams at Kougami, flushed and exhilarated and teeming with excitement. “I guess I’ll see you in two hours, Kougami-san.”

“See you then,” he says, then smiling slightly as he turns to go, he adds, “Ranger.”

Her smile grows even wider.

She’s congratulated by her fellow former candidates and Kagari slings a heavy arm over her shoulders as she walks back to her dorm. “That was bold of you, Akane-chan,” he says. “Who knew a cute girl like you had balls of steel?”

Akane rolls her eyes, used to Kagari’s meaningless flirting. “I’m just relieved to finally have a partner,” she says.

“You certainly found a partner alright,” Kagari says, an inflection to his tone that makes her suspicious.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing!”

“ _Kagari-kun.”_

“I’m just saying that physical compatibility _definitely_ didn’t seem like a problem between you two, if you know what I mean,” he says, eyebrows wagging suggestively.

“I _always_ know what you mean,” Akane sighs, though she can’t fight her blush. “It’s the Drift,” she argues.

 _“Mhmmm_.”

“This is why no one wants to drift with you,” she says petulantly, but Kagari just laughs it off.

She’s surprised when she spots Kougami in the hallway. She thought he’d be back in his room by now, but then she sees he’s in a heated exchange with Ginoza, though Ginoza seems to be the only one who’s talking.

“Wonder what’s up with Glasses,” Kagari muses.

“I don’t know,” Akane says, though she has an idea.

Kagari hums beside her, unbothered. “Well, I guess you’ll find out soon enough. After all, you’re about to be in his head and hooked up to a Jaeger real soon,” he says.

She thinks of Yuki and kaiju, of drive suits and Jaegers, of Kougami Shinya and the pull of the drift, and suddenly everything she’s been working towards is finally, _finally_ within reach.

“Yeah,” she says with a flush of pride. “Yeah, I am.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'VE BEEN DYING TO DO THE COMBAT SCENE. Action scenes are not my strong suit, but I hope I did it justice! This scene was a blast to write and any and all comments you may have are very very welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

The first time Kougami wore a drive suit, he felt protected, strong, _powerful._ The metal fit against him like a second skin and the gauntlets made his hands feel heavy with purpose. He remembers Sasayama’s wild laughter next to him, the slightly manic gleam in his eye that promised trouble for any kaiju that dared cross their path.

They were 18, ready to fight and indestructible. For the first few years of their partnership, the illusion of invincibility held—then that kaiju bastard Makishima ripped a hole in their Jaeger’s cockpit and tore through Sasayama like he was wearing nothing more than a tin can.

The last time Kougami wore a drive suit, he could barely stand the weight of it. The metal weighed like his conscience, like his failure, and it didn’t matter how many times he had the drive suit cleaned because no amount of disinfectant could erase the memory of blood staining the pristine white suit. The gauntlets made his hands too heavy to fight, and no matter how much his body wanted to, his mind couldn’t make his arms move.

His mind couldn’t make itself drift with anyone either.

But that was five years ago, and in the five years since leaving the Shatterdome, Kougami’s learned a lot from his time working in construction. He knew the efforts to build a wall strong enough to guard against the kaiju were futile at best, but it was a job and a distraction that he didn’t love, but didn’t hate, and that was enough. It kept him busy and it kept him moving, and if the job taught him anything worthwhile at all, it’s that you can’t build anything on an unstable foundation—not walls, not buildings, and certainly not any kind of real connection. Five years ago, walking disaster that he was, he never stood a chance against the drift.

He’s not even entirely sure he stands a chance now—his anger and grief are still there, though they’ve receded from a raging inferno to a quiet simmer, and he can’t shake the echoes of his last drift with Sasayama even as he prepares himself to drift with someone else, but the drive suit fits against his skin comfortably enough. It helps that the suit is now pitch black instead of white, and something tells him that was Tsunemori’s call.

He is not the same person he was when he first wore a drive suit, and he’s not the same person he was the last time he wore one either. When he sees Tsunemori step into the cockpit with a grin that’s nervous but still brimming with excitement, he lets himself believe that it’s for the best he has left who he was behind because it means he can be someone _better._ A Ranger without the naïve arrogance. A protector fueled by hope instead of anger.

Tsunemori believes in him. And, despite what Gino thinks, he won’t let himself drag her down and lose that faith.

“You ready?” she asks. Her pale skin seems to glow against her dark drive suit and she bounces lightly on her toes, though he doubts she’s aware she’s doing it.

“I feel like I should be asking you that. From what I’ve heard, drifting with me tends to hit people like a tsunami.”

A strange smile pulls at her lips as she says, “I’ve survived worse.”

“I’d ask, but in five minutes I’m gonna be inside your head,” he says. Then, because he can already feel that intangible pull he can only describe as the drift even though they haven’t even put on their helmets yet, he admits, “I’m glad it’s you.”

Tsunemori’s answering smile is softer, but no less genuine.

 _“Initiating neural handshake,”_ Shion says into their comms. “ _Akane-chan, Shinya, remember: don’t chase the R.A.B.I.T, random access brain impulse triggers—memories—just let them flow. Don’t latch on, Tune them out. Stay in the drift.”_

Kougami takes a steadying breath as the countdown starts, then has the wind knocked out of him when he’s launched into the drift.

A dozen snapshots of scenes play out in front of him at once, too quick to absorb them all and he lets the images flow through him like water. The red tsubaki flowers from his mother’s garden as he races across the yard, Aoi Tsunemori sneaking Akane candy before dinner with a playful wink, the abandoned paperbacks in his father’s study gathering dust before he decides to pick them up, Yuki complaining about how difficult it is to style Akane’s short hair as Kaori giggles in the background, Gino’s perpetual scowl smoothing into reluctant gratitude when Pops sneaks them burgers at the Academy because they complained about being sick of hyperoats, Kaori’s face stained with tears and flowers gripped so tightly in Akane’s hands that she nearly crushes them, the view of Anchorage from the top of a newly constructed wall, the towering figure of a jaeger the first time Akane steps foot in the Tokyo Shatterdome, his first glimpse of Akane’s face on the rainy day he returned to the Shatterdome with her bright amber eyes seeming like the only thing in color.

The memories finally catch up to the present, and they both gasp as the initial overwhelmingness of the drift recedes into something more manageable.

_“Right hemisphere calibrated. Left hemisphere calibrated. Ready to activate the jaeger.”_

They raise their hands in unison, the movement as natural as breathing. Akane looks at him, eyes full of wonder. She doesn’t have to tell him what she’s thinking, he feels her awe as strongly as his own heartbeat.

 _“Looking good, you two. The jaeger’s lining up nicely,”_ Shion says.

The drift only grows steadier, _stronger_ with each passing second. He hasn’t drifted in a while, but he _knows_ it has never felt this intense before. It’s the same feeling he had when he first met her, the same feeling when she told him to think like a Ranger, when they sparred with the bo staffs, when she stepped into the jaeger cockpit—the feeling of having _found_ something vitally important amplified to the nth degree by the drift.

_“Calibration complete.”_

Kougami feels protected, strong, _powerful—_

Then the echoes of Sasayama’s screams knock him headfirst back into a memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so much harder to write than I thought it'd be because the drift is so hard to capture in words, so I hope I did it justice! This was originally one long chapter, but I divided it into two for pacing, and I'm very excited to delve into Kou and Akane's backstories in more detail with the next chapter, so stay tuned and thank you for reading <3
> 
> As always, comments and kudos give me life so please consider leaving one if you enjoyed the story <3 You can also find me on tumblr as indy-mickey, where I've actually posted a deleted scene that takes place somewhere in between chapter one and chapter two. I talk about fic and fandom, and feel free to send a message if you wanna chat!

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! I’ve got several other ideas for this AU, if anyone’s interested, and I’m thinking of turning it into a series of one-shots (hopefully bringing in the rest of the Psycho-Pass cast as well!)
> 
> I’ve also got another Shinkane fic in the works, this time in the actual PP-verse set loosely during season 1 in which the last ones to figure out Akane and Kou are dating are none other than Akane and Kou themselves. I’m still debating whether I should post it as a long one-shot or a short multi-chap.
> 
> Anyway, comments are very welcome! I’d love to hear your thoughts <3 Hope you’re all staying safe at home!
> 
> -Indy


End file.
